In November 2009, we reported the joyous news that a Steven Spielberg/Will Smith remake of Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy was dead. Of course, Hollywood being Hollywood, nothing is ever truly “dead”. According to Pajiba, screenwriter Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend) has turned in a draft of the script that Mandate Pictures loves. The studio is now looking to get Spielberg back on board. However, that seems like a long shot since the director has already settled on Robopocalypse as his follow up to the drama War Horse. Mandate is also considering Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn. If Vaughn passes, they’ll take it to Danny Boyle. It’s weird to think of Boyle as anyone’s third choice, but I think he would be the most interesting of the three to helm a remake (or rather, a “re-adaptation” since Oldboy is based on a manga).
Of course, this is just a studio wish list and while an Oldboy remake may not be dead, it’s still a long a ways off from making it to the big screen. If you haven’t seen Oldboy, fix that part of your life. I’ve included a synopsis for the film after the jump.
Here’s a synopsis for Oldboy [via Netflix]:
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years — and no one to hold accountable for his suffering — a desperate businessman seeks revenge on his captors, relying on assistance from a friendly waitress. Korean director Chan Wook Park — a former philosophy student and Hitchcock devotee — uses his influences to create a mesmerizing psychological drama with a resolution that will leave you speechless.
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You’re working really hard to popularise that awful made-up phrase ‘re-adaptation’ aren’t you? Please, for the love of God, stop! If it’s been filmed before, it’s a remake, there’s no two ways about it.
This constant need to invent or appropriate words in order to make filmmakers seem less creatively bankrupt is one of the most irritating trends of the last decade of cinema.
umm buddy you know there is a manga on oldboy right lol
old boy movie took many liberties on the source material
Yes, I can read, buddy. I’m aware of that and wasn’t disputing it. Try reading my post properly before taking patronising potshots that have nothing to do with the point I was trying to make.
Just because a previous film was ‘less faithful’ doesn’t mean it suddenly doesn’t exist. No one on here called Red Dragon or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ‘re-adaptations’ even if they are supposedly more faithful than the classics they usurped. They were remakes, and this will be a remake too.
What? Red Dragon was an adaptation of a completely different book.
Boyle sucks
What are you talking about? Red Dragon was first adapted for the screen by Michael Mann in 1986. It was called Manhunter (under the instruction of his producer Dino De Laurentiis, as he had just released a flop with the word ‘dragon’ in the title) – and it is a masterpiece. Bret Ratner’s remake used the novel’s title, and it is stodgy, unimaginative but far more faithful to the book. That is the point I was trying to make, using those two unrelated examples.
And like most remakes/re-adaptations this one too is destined to fail.
One shouldn’t mess with South Korean cinema.
Having said that, I’m really curious to see what Danny Boyle’s take would look like. With the hero hammering away the bad guys to A.R. Rahman’s thumping score
‘The hero hammering away the bad guys to A.R. Rahman’s thumping score’ EPIC!!!!!!
Took me a good fifteen minutes to figure out what you said XD
As long as this is not the Will Smith one that was supposed to happen, I will refrain from nuking Hollywood. Still doesn’t need to happen, even with (Insert Cool Director Of The Day Here) directing.
It says Vaughan. Not Vaughn. We can assume this is Tom Vaughan, and not Matthew Vaughn
would you be happy if they used the phrase “re-imagining?”